Pat Anderson + Will Winter-Irving: Spikes Day 1

Pat Anderson (left) and Will Winter-Irving (right) from R/GA Sydney are competing in the Digital category of the Young Spikes competition. Here they give a rundown of their first day.

We both touched down in Singapore a few days before Spikes and the first thing that struck us (and worried us) was how very different the two of us are as travelers. Will’s a happy-go-lucky kind of guy – happy to try new things and down more than a few beers. He won’t leave the hotel without his camera or enough cash to get absolutely smashed. Pat, on the other hand, is constantly on guard from Dengue Fever carrying mosquitos and terrified by the prospect of actually experiencing anything other than the comfort of Sydney (and their healthcare system). He won’t leave the hotel without the phone number of the nearest hospital, a bottle of full strength mosquito repellent, plus a nifty little fan that sprays a neurotoxin designed to ward of mosquitos for double the protection.

Our differences came through on our first day at Spikes, too – Will wanted to listen to all the speakers and see absolutely everything, while Pat just wanted to see some of the work and eat the free Gelato (thanks McCann!). Will listened to a talk from Flying Fish Lab, which was about reinventing ordinary companies through controlled disruption. Will reckons it was ‘pretty solid’ – I even saw him nodding in agreement at one point during the talk.

It was good to see so much Aussie work on the wall – we particularly liked ‘Brewtroleum’ and ‘Amnesty International Unblocker’ from Colenso BBDO…oh wait they’re from New Zealand. 

After we’d checked out the work, we were briefed on Young Spikes. We had to come up with a social campaign about conservation. We rushed back to the hotel to work on it and after a good few hours concepting, we ended up going with the first idea that popped into our heads.

Today, we’re keen to head back to listen to SapientNitro’s talk ‘Copying is Good, a tech talk from Havas, see more work and hand in our response to the brief.